miguel

I actually did insist on maenius, the Roman name you gave me months ago. However I can't help but would like to ask you for a feminine one. see what you can get from my short name MAENIUS

But using alloy, say, adding copper, could be possible to strengthen it, could it not? If it is not lead, can it be nickel then? Or nickel silver (or other nickel alloys) as Lost Warrior suggested?

Months ago I've read a book (which name I have forgotton). There is a section of book mentioned that marriage between Romans and barbarians was forbidden. I wonder how true this statement is and I would like to know if there are any other sources regarding this matter. If it's true, how could it be possible for Ataulf to get married with Placidia (though the marriage displeased Honorius)?

Thanks, Cato. I am surprised to see you scholars can be so good at chemistry and biology!

Perhaps cases like this? Horrible... It's OT but I would like to expand on this. Is it true that lead poisoning was one of the major factor in the fall of the Roman Empire as some researchers suggested?

Delphi?

And Shakespeare's Twelfth Night? There are 12 animals symbolizing the Twelve Branches used to designate years according to Chinese lunar calendar. As far as I know the 12 disciples symbolize the 12 Israelite tribes, am I right?

But what is the infinitive?

Thanks!! Really fun to make up names. Haha. But is there any word means 'to be born'? I couldn't find any...

Anyone knows what is "the one who was born with hatred" in Latin? I don't know any Latin word means "to be born" And is 'odio' the ablative of 'odium'? Thanks!!

I wonder how non-Chinese people see the Opium Wars... For myself, without the wars, the environment that I born and grow would be utterly different. Were the wars, in fact, not important in world history, or people omit it for a reason? (Perhaps Britain realizes and is shamed into forcing the weak China to sign those treaties)

I've found the 'Aeneid' article on Wikipedia. "IPA English pronunciation: [əˈniːɪd]; in Latin 'Aeneis', pronounced [aɪˈne.ɪs] " AE should be pronounced AI, should it not? Perhaps you can tell your lecturer after the lecture. My biology teacher always makes the Latin words sound very English. For example, I suppose 'vertebrae' (plural form of 'vertebra') pronounced 'wer-te-brai', but she insists on saying 'ver-te-bri'. Similar case as for 'chordae terdineae'. I wonder should I say those words in Latin or English pronounciation. One more question, if anyone knows, how to pronounce the word 'oesophagus'? The OE is very confusing.

Do you mean there is a problem with this sentence: "They, too, were a society riddled with drugs problems, though their sniff of choice was opium, freely available in dens all over London." ? As far as I know the opium was exported from Britain India at that time. Opium is a resinous narcotic formed from the latex released by wounding the seed pods of opium poppies. Opium dens were widespread in many parts of the world in the 19th century. As you mention about opium, I can't stop thinking about the Opium Wars. But it seems very few people know about it...how sad!

The coast is very Alexandria-like.

Sun-Tzu, as you've mentioned, had spoken about spying about a hundred years before the Persian War. The Use of Spy is from Sun-Tzu's The Art of War Chapter XIII. More information on spying in Rome, you can refer to this article.

I asked the question as Guy said "This biblical inaccuracy doesn’t make my faith any less. It only confirms man’s fallibility." Luke 2:1 (New International Version) In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. That means the census was to be taken throughout the entire Roman Empire. I doubt if the census was practical since the primitive transportation systems of the Roman Empire would have been totally inadequate to handle the flow of people. The entire empire would be largely shut down for many months while people were returning to their home towns. But it was possible that the census was Herod's own, to tax his people, or the Romans ordered Herod to adopt a census. The problem is that there are no direct mentions other than Luke's Gospel of the census under Quirinius. But we could see Luke was knowledgeable about the political situation between Rome and Judea and Galilee (as we can see his historic accounts in Luke and Acts), it was unlikely that Luke would incorrectly make such a big blunder as to confuse the Quirinius census as having occurred during the time of King Herod. True, it is doubtlessly that historical sources cannot be 100% accurate. If the Bible is considered to be a historical novel, why is Josephus regconized as a historian instead of a novel writer? He, too, wrote about some of the things mentioned in the Bible such as God's creation and story of Moses.

That comes a question: is the Bible a religious book based only on Christian belief, or a historical record? In another words are biblical facts = historical facts? Let us consider the bible as a historical source. The four Gospel writers and Josephus described Jesus Christ as a real person; Matthew and John were two of the followers of Jesus, i.e. they did have involved. Can I say that there are no 'misunderstandings" or "mistakes"? And so, according to the Gospels, did Jesus performed miracles or even rised from death? (btw did Josephus mention about Jesus' Resurrection?) I believe historians would write their accounts in different aspect, in different words, sometimes with errors, but the above five writers (maybe there are more, I don't know much about others) wrote about Jesus. It can't be wrong, can it? Seem to be a bit out of topic... Guy, can you prove the biblical sources to be inaccurate? And I find myself not being able to understand the scenario of "Ronald Reagan’s being President at the same time that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Governor of California. " Perhaps it's because I am not an American. AD, do you have other sources concerning my question? 'cause I seemed to have problems in browsing the links in Niles' article. Thanks

Didn't realize that . I have problems in browsing the links given. Yea I could see the problem with dates. Is there any other accounts on Quirinius governing Syria but in the name of military leader in 7 BC? Can I say that Josephus or Luke (or maybe Matthew) was wrong, or was there actually two 'Quirinius', perhaps?

Here is an article on allaboutthejourney.org I would like to ask is there any sources concerning the 'recent discoveries' mentioned in the article that prove Luke's account to be true?

hm...I would say Aetius is my favourite, followed by Scipio

cool I've learnt about periodontal disease in bio lessons but, will anyone wear this? I would rather buy a better toothbrush and another tube of toothpaste.

He was a Scythian and he used to be a magister equitum. I can't find much on him either... btw was Aetius son (or one of his) named Gaudentius? I see that in Peter Heather's The Fall of the Roman Empire, but there is no further elaboration.